Zombies

"I like zombie movies. I like 'The Walking Dead;' I like the metaphor of it, simply because when we go with the zombie concept - if you're bitten by a zombie, you don't transform into something else like a vampire or a werewolf or whatever. You become something that's not you." - Marilyn Manson

A Zombie or reanimated corpse is a sentient or non-sentient creature that is controlled by other forces than itself. A zombie may be living, dead or dying. There are various methods of creating a zombie of which the most popular ways are by a virus or bacteria, powerful reanimation or necromantic spells and soul trapping. Due to their rotting flesh and dead appearance, zombies are often connected with diseases and death. However, zombies may be as natural as humans themselves. Zombies do speak in a floppy manner which becomes more prominent in the later stages.

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Zombies never sleep, and they are incapable of fatigue. Fatigue in the muscles is caused by a lactic acid build up. Zombies are incapable of producing this acid. Since they are incapable of producing lactic acid in the muscle tissue they feel no symptoms of fatigue.

Zombies are impervious to pain and require no air to breathe. The small portion of the brain which the parasite needs requires such a small amount of oxygen that simply by being in an environment where oxygen is present will suffice. This means, obviously, that a zombie can survive on land; however, this also means that a zombie can survive under water as water is one part oxygen.

They are thus immune to drugs, poisons, gases, extremes of temperature and pressure, high voltage electricity, suffocation, and drowning.

While not invulnerable to physical injury, zombies can suffer great damage to their bodies (including dismemberment) without being adversely affected. Dismembering the legs will render the zombie immobile, but the creature will still continue to subsist. Likewise, decapitation will incapacitate the body, but the head will still "live".

Some zombies possess any superhuman strength and night vision. The most dangerous ones can raise other corpses to fight for them.

Zombies have no concept of fear. You cannot scare a zombie. The small amount of brain that they have does not process fear. A zombie will see you and feel the need to kill you without being intimidated by the number or the weapons.Zombies raised by necromancy are more dangerous than virus raised zombies because magic controlled zombies work by the will of the master making them more dangerous and a potential enemy to the living.Eventually, zombie flesh melts away as it ages making them more and more powerful and skeleton-like.

Like vampires and werewolves and basically every other supernatural creature, zombies too have variations.

Walkers: These are the most common types of zombies, they are slow-walking and not so dangerous.These zombies can be killed easily with a headshot, fire or magic.

Runners: These are one of the bigger threats to survivors. Runners, obviously, have the ability to run, which is a horrifying aspect to those that are being pursued. These Zombies are a primary target and should never be overlooked when fighting hordes. They will gain ground on survivors and bring them down, either killing them or disabling them and leaving them for the slower Walkers. A survivor should never try to outrun the Runners, since they do not tire like humans do. The only way to stop them from running is to disable their legs through severing large muscle groups or completely severing their legs. Other than that, the only other way is to outright eliminate them. Runners make howling noises making them more easier to be heard, since they do not get tired their speed always remains the same. This makes it comparatively easier to distinguish between a human and a zombie footsteps as they will always maintain the same speed between 20 to 50 km/hr depending on their levels.

Stalkers: These are a more feral type of Zombie. Stalkers are quadrupedal, which means they move on all fours. Nothing is known as to the cause of the animal-like movement. A popular theory is that the Zombie's brain has degraded so far that it stepped back on the evolutionary chain, reducing them to unnatural locomotion. This movement shakes and jerks their heads around, making them harder to hit with a ballistic weapon. This also increases their speed, making them faster than standard Walkers and even Runners. Due to their lowered profile, they may be harder to spot in tall grass and dark environments, they often stand on their back legs like bears to see further. Most stalkers are naked as clothes provide restriction to their movement and they often tear away their clothes to allow more speed. Stalkers can run an astonishing speed between 50 to 80 miles an hour and jump over 20 feet. Stalkers also scale walls to take down rivals.

Crawlers: These are a well known and very annoying type of Zombie. Crawlers are completely disabled in their lower bodies and cannot walk or run like other types of undead. They can be disabled through muscle severing or leg severing; crawlers can also have their legs crushed by a heavy object or car. Crawlers must support their upper torso with their arms and must crawl along on the ground slowly to move to their desired destination. Due to their low profile, they are harder to spot, as well as their low speed makes them a highly dangerous zombie if not payed attention to. The second one neglects to pay attention, they can be taken down by a crawler. The Zombie can latch onto the survivors leg and bite down, infecting as well as disabling their leg. Crawlers are comparatively weaker than other zombies but are encountered in a horde midway to distract the victims. Often they try to kick down these creatures but this is where they do the mistake. These zombies cannot be killed by kicking and therefore must be shot at.

Ghouls: These zombies are more dangerous than other zombies, they feed on corpses to keep themselves strong. These lumbering, rotting corpses were once Zombies that have made the final transition into true 'undeath'. Ghouls have great stamina and revel in combat with living beings. These zombies have extremely large palms forged into claws that are strong enough to break trees, these creatures can speak too and serve as the basic soldiers of any necromancer.

Skeletons: These creatures are one of the more common types of undead. Not to be confused with the bone-napper zombies which are the final stage of zombies, skeletons are zombies which have been magically enhanced to keep no flesh on their their body. These undead creatures are immortal and more intelligent than zombies and group up themselves to battle enemies together. Skeletons can be destroyed simply by a blunt weapon or a bullet to the skull but are more in numbers. Unlike zombies which are only dead humans, skeletons are born of dark magic which at it's most can raise 12 skeletons from a single corpse.

Talkers: These zombies are more intelligent than other zombies and they speak in both human tongue and zombie. These creatures are sent to negotiate with humans who are either foolish or wise enough to cooperate with them. Due to their zombie character, talkers cannot lie and can taunt neither. This is why zombies can be trusted more than humans.

Gunsliner Zombie: Popularly known as the 'spirit of the wild west'. These zombies are undead cowboys that carry revolvers. These zombies are not afraid of the sun and might attack in broad daylight. It is suggested to stay away from this creature's sight because these zombies never miss. Often times they were seen riding their undead horses.

Ice Zombies: Popularly adopted as 'White Walkers' in A Song of Ice and Fire, these zombies are the same. They are more of a distinct race of zombies with blue skin and blue eyes. They truly carry weapons that could shatter steel and raise the dead. There is no known way of surviving these zombies as the walkers are followed by a long night of snow and nuclear winter. The walkers are so far the most powerful zombies but luckily they only remain in frozen areas.

The Zombie virus does not only affect human and other sentient beings. Almost every creature can turn into a zombie. However, only a few types of animal zombies have been sighted. Some of them are given below.

Zombie Horse: These zombies are the most seen type of non-human zombie. In ancient times, zombie cavalry used to mount zombie horses and ride to war. Unlike human zombies, horses are not slow but instead are faster than before, horses have also been reported aiding their fell riders in combat if they were knocked down. Zombie horses weaken as they age though, a real zombie horse is capable of serving for a year or two.

Zombie Wolf: Zombie wolves and dogs are quite common taking the fact they are the animals that can be used in battlefields. Much like horses, these creatures too weaken as they age.

Zombie Spiders: Get ready to have LARGE nightmares, for these spiders are not the small ones that sometime get in your home, these spiders are bigger than hounds - and poisonous too. Not much is known about these creatures except that in old times these monsters followed the zombies. The habitat of their living counterparts is unknown.

Zombie Flies: Also known as botflies, these little creatures are harmless from a distance but they spread zombie like any other disease.

Zombie Dragons: Although never seen, the idea of zombie dragons are quite famous throughout pop culture. It is because dragons are feared nonetheless - imagine how scary would a zombie dragon be. Zombie dragons can breath poisonous gases that spread zombie virus. Zombie dragons lose their ability to fly as they age but instead learn to breathe frost.

Other creatures include zombie bears, lions, cats, panthers and other such animals.

Infectious Bite: A zombie can turn another person into a zombie by biting or scratching them.

Superhuman Strength: Zombies are stronger then the average person and can lift 10 average humans. Some of them can lift small cars to throw at men and even rip open doors, some of them can even toss away humans by a simple touch of hand and shatter steel like glassby their magic.

Superhuman Durability: Zombie's body was more resistant to certain types of injury than those of a living human, zombies don't feel cold and can survive blizzards and can walk or run thousands of miles without break.

Light: Much like vampires, some zombies cower in sunlight or before UV rays or even bright light. It is estimated that this is because they have ultra powerful night vision. However, zombies created by viruses have no such weakness (except some cases). However, it is recommended to walk in daylight during zombie breaks.

Decapitation: A zombie can be killed completely if its head is cut out. However, some zombies learn to store their sentience in their hearts therefore surviving without heads. Such a zombie is called a 'headless zombie'.

Fire: Zombies burn easily as if there skin is coated in oil. So far fire is the cheapest method of killing a zombie unless it is a White Walker. Also after immolation, zombie flesh becomes preserved and cooked as the skin wears off and meat is only left. Zombies can also be eaten by living beings including humans, a popular saying is that zombie flesh tastes better than turkey.

Silver: Zombies will be burned in contact to silver or mercury. However, this method is less useful because silver is very expensive. This is one of the less known facts about undead.

Holy Objects: Zombies raised by dark magic fear positive energy and thus can be killed by a crucifix or holy water.